• conclave •

Meaning: 1. A confidential meeting of members of a family or other close-knit organization. 2. The chambers in which cardinals of the Catholic Church meet to elect a new Pope, the cardinals participating in such a meeting, or the meeting itself.

Notes: Today's topical Good Word has a funny adjective, conclavical, that sounds more like a bone than a chamber where a Pope is elected. A participant in a conclave is known as a conclavist.

In Play: The conclave that is in the news in 2013 is the conclave to elect a new Pope to replace Pope Benedict XVI, who recently retired (February 28, 2013). He was the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415. The last Roman Catholic conclave elected Pope Benedict on April 19, 2005. That conclave of Roman Catholic bishops was a far cry from the conclaves of the Mafia families that Mario Puzo describes in his novel, The Godfather, though these two applications of the word amply demonstrate its flexibility and breadth. But today's Good Word is not limited to powerful families: "Mom has to call a family conclave to decide what to have for dinner."

Word History: Today's Good Word, appropriately enough, comes to us from Italy. Italian inherited their word conclave unchanged from Latin conclave "a room, chambers, a suite". This word most probably originated as "a locked room", for it is made up of com- "(together) with" + clavis "a key". Clavis seems related to clavus "nail", perhaps because the original key was a bent nail. Russian klyuch "key", from the same source, shows weak evidence that the meaning of its word for "key" passed through that of "nail": Russian contains a word klin "wedge, wooden peg" that shares the initial consonant cluster with klyuch. (Today we needn't hold a conclave to conclude that Ollie Louia deserves a word of appreciation for suggesting today's very topical Good Word.)

In an attempt to avoid future lengthy elections, Gregory X introduced stringent rules with the promulgation of Ubi periculum. Cardinals were to be secluded in a closed area and not accorded individual rooms. No cardinal was allowed, unless ill, to be attended by more than two servants. Food was supplied through a window to avoid outside contact.[58] After three days of the conclave, the cardinals were to receive only one dish a day; after another five days, they were to receive just bread and water. During the conclave, no cardinal was to receive any ecclesiastical revenue.[12][59]

And I think there was something to do with the factthat it had gone years before they elected a pope.Perhaps it was not the one you mentioned, but thepeople of Rome were so sick of the whole affairthat they 'locked' the Cardinals in and would not letthem out until they elected a pope.Both ideas, from my point of view, should bedone to Congress and President as well.They are elected to serve the people, not themselves.